June 29, 2005

The Confederations Cup is over: for a rather meaningless cup, there was some fantastic football in both the final (Brazil v. Argentina) and the third place game (Germany v. Mexico). If you haven't seen either game yet, the third place game is on Fox Soccer Channel at 8pm et, and the final is on at 11pm et. (More inside - I don't want to spoil it for anyone.)

Brazil really toyed with Argentina tonight. The first half was a clinic with the long range shots of Adriano and Kaka. Argentina had to push forward after that, and Brazil just picked apart what was left of the defense. There was some really beautiful football on display by the Brazilians. I'd recommend catching the replay if you missed the game.. And Argentina continues their 12-year drought without a major trophy.. I thought the Mexicans had a great tournament. They shut down Brazil masterfully in the group stage. It's too bad for them they couldn't complete the comeback against Germany to take third.

The tournament so far exceeded my expectations I lack the words to describe it. I only wish we'd seen more of it on tv over here in England. blarp's right, catch the final if you can, and the third place playoff.

Did you see the 4th goal? 13 straight passes by Brazil interrupted by an Argie's 50/50 header followed by 3 more Brazil passes...goal. Argentina were chasing the game and looked like they were wearing 10 lb. socks...only Brazil could do that. Amazing.

The ESPY thing...it's an American based broadcasting company which primarily promotes American athletes in yet another meaningless awards show...go figure. Yes, it's amusing and no, Donovan and Johnson don't belong on any ballot with Ronaldinho. Even we Yanks know that.

I watched Brazil totally kill Argentina live on Univision this morning. At one point, they flashed stats on the screen that said Argentina had 54% of possession, but they were already 2-0 behind! Totally beautiful goals from the Brasilenos. That first Adriano goal was class, cutting from right to left across the top of the box and then unleashing a left-footed curler around the keeper. Pure class. And then for no. 2, somehow ending up unmarked in the midst of three Argie defenders, and hammering a header into the ground that ricocheted into the net. Brilliant. Adriano is the total package -- big and strong, graceful, skillful, fast. He was swatting defenders aside wherever he went. Adriano, Kaka and Robinho will easily take over the mantle from Ronaldo and Ronaldinho next year. BRAZIL!

Ronaldhino is 23 or 24 years old and Robhino is good, really good, but there's no way he's pushing Ronaldhino out of the playmaker spot next year. Probably not until after the 2010 Finals. I saw the Bra-Arg match, the dominance was total but surprising. You could say that Arg was missing a few starters (though at least one and maybe two were out due to yellow cards) but those first two goals--especially Adriano's--were not going to be stopped by any backline. Mexico impressed me, adding on to the recent win against the US in World Cup qualifying. Next summer in Germany, gonna be some big fun. I need to save up some PTO for watching.

Texan - I don't think you should apologize for typing about the game in the thread here. That's the point of the thread, so we can talk about the game. I just didn't write the final result on the FPP so that it didn't spoil it for anyone who visited spofi. If someone's clicking this thread, they're obviously going to find out the result.

Robinho will easily take over the mantle from Ronaldo and Ronaldinho As someone who doesn't watch that much international football (except during major tournaments), I'd just like to point out how hard it is to keep track of the Brazilian players when they all seem to have the same name! It's like watching a hockey game with Davies, Davis and Davidson...

the one-name thing is super cool though...perhaps they should've thought of the limitations before letting that tradition take hold in a nation of almost 200 million....and they all want a picture of these three.